Prosthetic management of a growing patient with Russell-Silver syndrome: a clinical report

Russell-Silver syndrome (RSS) is a congenital disease characterized by short stature due to growth hormone deficiency, physical asymmetry, inverted triangular face, micrognathia, prominent forehead, and hypodontia. This case report presents a prosthetic management of a 6-year-old patient with Russell-Silver syndrome treated with overdentures on the maxilla and the mandible using the remaining primary teeth. Subsequent and comprehensive dental management considering the growth and development of a young patient will be necessary.     

Melatonin-stimulated exosomes enhance the regenerative potential of chronic kidney disease-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells via cellular prion proteins

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is caused by dysfunctional kidneys, which result in complications like cardiovascular diseases. Chronic kidney disease-induced pathophysiological conditions decrease efficacy of autologous mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC)-based therapy by reducing MSC functionality. To enhance therapeutic potential in patients with CKD, we isolated exosomes derived from melatonin-treated healthy MSCs (MT exosomes) and assessed the biological functions of MT exosome–treated MSCs isolated from patients with CKD (CKD-MSCs). Treatment with melatonin increased the expression of cellular prion protein (PrP^C) in exosomes isolated from MSCs through the upregulation of miR-4516. Treatment with MT exosomes protected mitochondrial function, cellular senescence, and proliferative potential of CKD-MSCs. MT exosomes significantly increased the level of angiogenesis-associated proteins in CKD-MSCs. In a murine hindlimb ischemia model with CKD, MT exosome–treated CKD-MSCs improved functional recovery and vessel repair. These findings elucidate the regenerative potential of MT exosome–treated CKD-MSCs via the miR-4516-PrP^C signaling axis. This study suggests that the treatment of CKD-MSCs with MT exosomes might be a powerful strategy for developing autologous MSC-based therapeutics for patients with CKD. Furthermore, miR-4516 and PrP^C could be key molecules for enhancing the regenerative potential of MSCs in ischemic diseases.     

Upgrading and upstaging of low-risk prostate cancer among Korean patients: a multicenter study

Only 54% of prostate cancer cases in Korea are localized compared with 82% of cases in the US. Furthermore, half of Korean patients are upgraded after radical prostatectomy (41.6%–50.6%). We investigated the risk factors for upgrading and/or upstaging of low-risk prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 1159 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy at five hospitals in Honam Province. Preoperative data on standard clinicopathological parameters were collected. The radical prostatectomy specimens were graded and staged and we defined a “worsening prognosis” as a Gleason score ≥ 7 or upstaging to ≥ pT3. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess factors associated with postoperative pathological upstaging. Among the 1159 patients, 324 were classified into the clinically low-risk group, and 154 (47.5%) patients were either upgraded or upstaged. The multivariable analysis revealed that the preoperative serum prostate-specific antigen level (odds ratio [OR], 1.131; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.007–1.271; P= 0.037), percent positive biopsy core (OR: 1.018; 95% CI: 1.002–1.035; P= 0.032), and small prostate volume (≤30 ml) (OR: 2.280; 95% CI: 1.351–3.848; P= 0.002) were predictive of a worsening prognosis. Overall, 47.5% of patients with low-risk disease were upstaged postoperatively. The current risk stratification criteria may be too relaxed for our study cohort.     

Curing units' ability to cure restorative composites and dual-cured composite cements under composite overlay

This study compared the efficacy of using conventional low-power density QTH (LQTH) units, high-power density QTH (HQTH) units, argon (Ar) laser and Plasma arc curing (PAC) units for curing dual-cured resin cements and restorative resin composites under a pre-cured resin composite overlay. The microhardness of the two types of restorative resins (Z100 and Tetric Ceram) and a dual-cured resin cement (Variolink II) were measured after they were light cured for 60 seconds in a 2 mm Teflon mold. The recorded microhardness was determined to be the optimum microhard-ness (OM). Either one of the two types of restorative resins (Z100, Tetric Ceram) or the dual cured resin cement (Variolink II) were placed under a 1.5-mm thick and 8 mm diameter pre-cured Targis (Vivadent/Ivoclar AG, Schaan, Liechtenstein) overlay. The specimens that were prepared for each material were divided into four groups depending upon the curing units used (HQTH, PAC, Laser or LQTH) and were further subdi-vided into subgroups according to light curing time. The curing times used were 30, 60, 90 and 120 seconds for HQTH; 12, 24, 36 and 48 seconds for the PAC unit; 15, 30, 45 and 60 for the Laser and 60, 120 or 180 seconds for the LQTH unit. Fifteen specimens were assigned to each sub- group. The microhardness of the upper and and lower composite surfaces under the Targis overlay were measured using an Optidur Vickers hardness-measuring instrument (G?ttfert Feinwerktechnik GmbH, Buchen, Germany). In each material, for each group, a three-way ANOVA with Tukey was used at the 0.05 level of significance to compare the microhardnesses of the upper and lower composite surfaces and the previously measured OM of the material. From the OM of each material, 80% OM was calculated and the time required for the microhardness of the upper and lower surface of the specimen to reach 100% and 80% of OM was determined. In Z100 and Tetric Ceram, when the composites were light cured for 120 seconds using the HQTH lamp, microhardnesses of the upper and lower surfaces reached OM. When they were cured with the PAC unit, only 48 seconds was needed for the upper and lower surfaces to reach OM. When they were cured using the laser, the lower surface did not reach OM in any of the groups. When the specimens were cured using the LQTH lamp, 180 seconds of curing was needed for Z100 to reach OM, whereas Tetric Ceram did not reach OM. In Z100, 60, 12, 30 and 60 seconds were needed in HQTH, PAC, Laser and LQTH, respectively, for the specimens to reach 80% OM. Tetric Ceram was needed 60,24,45 and 180 seconds to reach 80% OM. In the Variolink II specimen, microhardness of the upper and lower surfaces did not reach OM even though they were light cured with the HQTH lamp for 120 seconds. When they were cured with the PAC unit, 48 seconds was insufficient for them to reach OM. When they were cured with laser for 45 and 60 seconds, microhardness reached OM on the upper surface but not on the lower surface. However, when they were cured using the LQTH lamp, microhardness did not reach OM on the upper and lower surfaces even though the curing time was extended to three minutes. In Variolink II, 120, 36, 45 and >180 seconds were needed in HQTH, PAC, Laser and LQTH, respectively, for the specimens to reach 80% OM. In conclusion, the PAC system is the most effective curing system to cure the restorative composite and dual cured resin cement under the 1.5 mm Targis overlay, followed by the laser, HQTH and LQTH units. In addition, the restorative composites cured more efficiently than the dual-cured resin cements.     

Artificial selection for structural color on butterfly wings and comparison with natural evolution

Brilliant animal colors often are produced from light interacting with intricate nano-morphologies present in biological materials such as butterfly wing scales. Surveys across widely divergent butterfly species have identified multiple mechanisms of structural color production; however, little is known about how these colors evolved. Here, we examine how closely related species and populations of Bicyclus butterflies have evolved violet structural color from brown-pigmented ancestors with UV structural color. We used artificial selection on a laboratory model butterfly, B. anynana, to evolve violet scales from UV brown scales and compared the mechanism of violet color production with that of two other Bicyclus species, Bicyclus sambulos and Bicyclus medontias, which have evolved violet/blue scales independently via natural selection. The UV reflectance peak of B. anynana brown scales shifted to violet over six generations of artificial selection (i.e., in less than 1 y) as the result of an increase in the thickness of the lower lamina in ground scales. Similar scale structures and the same mechanism for producing violet/blue structural colors were found in the other Bicyclus species. This work shows that populations harbor large amounts of standing genetic variation that can lead to rapid evolution of scales’ structural color via slight modifications to the scales’ physical dimensions.Organisms produce colors in two basic ways: by synthesizing pigments that selectively absorb light of certain spectral bands so that only light outside the absorption bands is backscattered (chemical color) or by developing nanomorphologies that enhance the reflection of light of certain wavelengths by interference (physical color or structural color). Structural colors play major roles in natural and sexual selection in many species (1) and have a broad range of applications in color display, paint, cosmetics, and textile industries (2). Structural color surveys across widely divergent species have revealed a large diversity of color-producing mechanisms (3–9). However, there has been a lack of systematic study and comparison of how different colors from closely related species or within populations of a single species evolve, even though these colors can vary dramatically. By examining how these species/populations evolve different colors, it is possible to identify the minimal amount of morphological change that results in significant color variation. Furthermore, this research may serve as an inspiration for future application of similar evolutionary principles to the design of photonic devices for color tuning, light trapping, or beam steering (2, 10–20). From an evolutionary biology point of view, we are curious to examine how structural colors respond to selection pressure and whether there is sufficient standing genetic variation in natural populations to allow the rapid evolution of novel colors. Here we focus on determining the morphological changes and the physical mechanisms that cause the evolution of violet structural color in populations of a single species and also across different species within a single genus of butterflies.We focus on the genus Bicyclus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), composed of more than 80 species that predominantly exhibit brown color along with marginal eyespots. Some Bicyclus species, however, have independently evolved transverse bands of bright violet/blue structural color on the dorsal surface of the forewings (black asterisks in Fig. 1A) (21, 22). One species, Bicyclus anynana, has become a model species amenable to laboratory rearing, and multiple aspects of its marginal eyespots (size, relative width of the color rings, shape) have been altered by artificial selection (23–27). However, change of color (hue), either pigmentary or structural, via artificial selection has not been reported. B. anynana does not exhibit bright violet coloration on its wings and therefore provides an excellent opportunity for investigating whether there is genetic potential to produce violet color upon directed selection. We investigated this potential by performing an artificial selection experiment in B. anynana that targeted the color of the specific dorsal wing region that evolved violet/blue coloration in other members of the genus (Fig. 1 B–G).Open in a separate windowFig. 1.Structural color in Bicyclus butterflies and basic wing scale morphology. (A) A phylogenetic estimate of Bicyclus butterfly relationships (modified from ref. 41) illustrating the evolution of color in the genus. The black asterisks mark two clades that evolved violet/blue color independently, represented here by B. sambulos and B. medontias. (B–D) Dorsal wing images of B. sambulos, B. anynana (the region used for artificial selection is marked by white asterisk), and B. medontias. (E–G) Graphs of reflectance spectra of the blue/violet wing band showing reflectance peaks in the 400–450 nm range and in the brown-colored homologous region in B. anynana with a UV reflectance peak centered at 300 nm (colored arrows). (H) 3D illustration of the wing and scales in the selected wing area of B. anynana. (I) Magnified view of the ripped region in H showing how cover (c; brown) and ground (g; green) scales are attached to the wing membrane (m, pink) and alternate along rows. Scales on the other (ventral) side of the wing membrane are visible also. (J) Cross-sectional view of a single scale showing the trabeculae (T) connecting the lower lamina (LL) to the upper lamina that includes ridges (R), microribs (Mr), and crossribs (Cr). Windows (W) are the spaces between the ridges and crossribs. Cover and ground scales have the same basic morphology. [llustrations in H–J courtesy of Katerina Evangelou (Central Saint Martin’s College, London).]B. anynana, like other butterflies, has two types of scales, cover and ground, which alternate within a row with cover scales partially covering the ground scales and the point where both scales attach to the wing membrane (Fig. 1 H and I and Fig. S1) (28). Both cover and ground scales contain a lower lamina with a continuous smooth surface below a region composed of longitudinal ridges and crossribs, collectively referred to as the “upper lamina” and connected to the lower lamina via pillars called “trabeculae” (Fig. 1J and Fig. S1) (6). Previous studies on butterflies showed that structural color can be produced by interference with light reflected from the overlapping lamella that build the longitudinal ridges, from microribs protruding from the sides of the longitudinal ridges, or from the lower lamina, which can vary in thickness and patterning (Fig. 1J) (29, 30). However, it is not clear how the violet/blue color is produced in members of the two Bicyclus clades that separately evolved this color, whether B. anynana can be made to evolve the same violet/blue color via artificial selection, and whether it will generate the color in the same way as the other species. To answer these questions, we conducted detailed optical characterization and structural analysis of butterfly wing scales from three separate species and artificially evolved populations of Bicyclus to illustrate how color is generated and how it has evolved.